Porfirio Alejandro Muñoz Ledo y Lazo de la Vega (23 July 1933 – 9 July 2023) was a Mexican politician. He was one of the founders of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and served as Ambassador to Cuba from January 2022 until his death.[1]

Porfirio Muñoz Ledo
Muñoz Ledo in 2015
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
1 September 2018 – 5 September 2019
Preceded byEdgar Romo García
Succeeded byLaura Rojas Hernández
In office
1 September 1997 – 30 September 1997
Preceded byNetzahualcóyotl de la Vega
Succeeded byEduardo Bernal Martínez
Secretary of Public Education
In office
1 December 1976 – 9 December 1977
PresidentJosé López Portillo
Preceded byVíctor Bravo Ahuja
Succeeded byFernando Solana Morales
Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare
In office
17 September 1972 – 25 September 1975
PresidentLuis Echeverría Álvarez
Preceded byRafael Hernández Ochoa
Succeeded byCarlos Gálvez Betancourt
Personal details
Born
Porfirio Alejandro Muñoz Ledo y Lazo de la Vega

(1933-07-23)23 July 1933
Mexico City, D.F., Mexico
Died9 July 2023(2023-07-09) (aged 89)
Mexico City, Mexico
Political partyMorena
(2018–2023)
Other political
affiliations
Institutional Revolutionary Party (1954–1987)
Party of the Democratic Revolution (1989–1999)
Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution (1999–2000)
Independent (2000–2006)
Labor Party (2006–2018)
Spouse(s)
Marie Hélène Chevannier
(m. 1960; div. 1971)

Berta Yáñez Centeno Cabrera
(m. 1973; div. 1996)

Mariana Sáiz Velázquez
(m. 1998; div. 2006)
Children5
Parent(s)Porfirio Muñoz Ledo Castillo
Ana Lazo de la Vega Marín
EducationNational Autonomous University of Mexico (LLB)
University of Paris (SJD)

Biography

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Born in Mexico City,[2] Muñoz Ledo studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) from 1951 to 1955 and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Paris.[citation needed]

Muñoz Ledo served as a member of the cabinets of Presidents Luis Echeverría as Secretary of Labor (1972–1975) and José López Portillo as Secretary of Education (1976–1977). He was President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) during the presidential campaign of 1975–1976.[citation needed]

Muñoz Ledo was Mexico's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1978 to 1985, where he presided over the UN Security Council, the Group of 77 and the negotiations of the Global Economic Agreements.[citation needed]

In 1988 he broke with the PRI and won a seat in the Senate running as a candidate for the leftist Frente Democrático Nacional (FDN) coalition. On 5 May 1989, Muñoz Ledo, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, and other leading center-left and leftist politicians formally founded the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).[citation needed]

Muñoz Ledo served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1997 to 1999. He was the first member of an opposition party to preside over Congress in the post-revolutionary period as President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1997.[3] He ran for the presidency in 2000 as the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution candidate but before the elections he gave his support to the National Action Party candidate Vicente Fox who later designated Muñoz Ledo ambassador to the European Union (2001–2004).[citation needed]

In 2005 he returned to the PRD to join Andrés Manuel López Obrador in his presidential campaign.[4][5]

In 2009 until 2012, he again served in the Chamber of Deputies as a deputy for the PT.[6]

On 27 August 2018, the parliamentary group of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) proposed him as president of the Chamber of Deputies and therefore of the Congress of the Union for the first year of the LXIV Legislature.[7]

In late 2020, he ran for president of the MORENA party, but came in second place. In January 2022, he was appointed Ambassador to Cuba.[8]

Muñoz Ledo died on 9 July 2023, at the age of 89. The cause of his death was not immediately announced.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ Reina, Elena (20 January 2022). "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo aceptó el cargo de embajador de México en Cuba, pero el nombramiento ha quedado en el aire". El País México (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, político profesional, tribuno temible y crítico entre los críticos". El Universal. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  3. ^ Enciclopedia Política de México 9 Tomo V. (PDF). Senade de la República - Instituto Belisario Domínguez. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  4. ^ [1] Mexican Congress Official Site in Spanish
  5. ^ [2] English translation
  6. ^ "SIL :: Sistema de Información Legislativa-PopUp Legislador".
  7. ^ "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo será quien coloque banda presidencial a López Obrador". Proceso. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  8. ^ Cote, Fausto Pretelin Muñoz de. "AMLO rompe códigos diplomáticos con Panamá". El Economista. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, Mexico's veteran political chameleon, has died". AP News. 9 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  10. ^ Raziel, Zedryk (9 July 2023). "Muere a los 89 años el histórico dirigente mexicano Porfirio Muñoz Ledo" [Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, historic Mexican leader, dies at 89]. El País México (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2023.

Further reading

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  • Camp, Roderic Ai. "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo" in Mexican Political Biographies. Second edition. Tucson: University of Arizona 1982, pp. 211–12. ISBN 0-8165-0743-0
  • Gil, Carlos B. ed. Hope and Frustration: Interviews with Leaders of Mexico's Political Opposition, especially Chapter 7, "Porfirio Muñoz Ledo". Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Books 1992. ISBN 0-8420-2396-8
Preceded by Secretary of Education
1976–1977
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
1975—1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Party of the Democratic Revolution
1993—1996
Succeeded by